Merry Christmas (or happy winter holidays, if you don't celebrate christmas) mina-san! Sleeping in... no school... no work... XD. Well, for all you reviewers, this chappie's for you. This chapter is a little longer... ish. -sigh- Well... I had this chapter written last week and I was too lazy to make it longer.

Err... Spencer/Bryan? Haven't heard of that pairing, Werewolf of Fire... dunno if I'll put it in though. I highly doubt it... gomen. -sweatdrops-

Disclaimer: Don't own, etcetera etcerta etcetera.

Chapter 7

Tala groaned and turned over as a streak of light struck his closed eyes. He tried to go back to sleep, but to no avail. Sighing, he sat up in his bed and noted the soft bed. He opened his eyes to the bright walls of his room. Shocked at first, he closed his eyes.

"Oh yea… I'm here." Tala thought about what happened the day before: the trip, Tyson, dinner… his heart tightened.

"Kai…"

Tala closed his eyes slightly, thinking about their conversation. "What was I supposed to say? Even if Kai was there when I turned around, I wouldn't know what to do."

Tala turned to the clock on his table. It was 11:30.

"Crap! I slept in! Boris will be so—wait a minute. There's no more Boris." Tala grinned and flopped back onto his bed. His stomach grumbled.

"Just wait. I wanna stay in bed a little longer," thought Tala happily as he snuggled into his fluffy pillow. His stomach growled again, and Tala sighed in defeat. Grabbing a shirt off his lamp, Tala headed off to the kitchen.

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Walking into the kitchen, Tala's eyes were met with the silver glare from all the metal appliances. It was a large kitchen; each area separated according to the preparation of different food groups. Everything was sparkling clean and not a soul was in sight. Tala wandered in between the counters looking for the fridge; his stomach growling louder and louder by the moment.

"Shut up, would you? You're making so much noise that I can't keep track of where I've been!" hissed Tala to his stomach. His stomach stopped immediately.

"Stupid Kai. Just has to make everything a maze," grumbled Tala.

Tala found a row of what looked like large metal fridges. Nearing one, he opened the door and his mouth dropped. Inside was the most food he had ever seen. Moving from fridge to fridge, his eyes got larger and larger. His mouth watered at the sight.

"What are you gawking at?"

Tala turned sharply to see Spencer and Ian. Ian jogged to Tala and looked into the fridges.

"FOOD!" exclaimed Ian.

Minutes later, the boys sat on stools around a tall metal counter with plates of food in front of them and a tall glass of milk. While Spencer and Tala were calmly eating, Ian was shovelling everything into his mouth.

"I wish I could eat some meat with all these veggies. We seem like health freaks, right now," said Tala eyeing the pile of vegetables on his plate and pushing them around with his fork.

"Can you cook?" asked Spencer.

"Nope," answered Tala, sighing. He may have learned many skills in the abbey, but cooking wasn't one of them.

"Mmrph! Lemph—"

"We are not letting you get close to a stove or oven, Ian," stressed Spencer. Ian pouted.

"Find some food?" came a voice. They turned. It was Bryan. Bryan had grabbed a stool and pulled it towards the others. At the sight of the vegetables, Bryan grimaced.

"So what are we, now? Cows?" asked Bryan, "Pigs?" he added at the sight of Ian. Ian swallowed and gave a cheesy smile. Bryan rolled his eyes.

"By any chance, can you cook?"

"Cook? Ha. You're kidding me, right? Why don't you just eat it raw?"

"Vegetables, ok. Bread… I think all breads are made fresh, here, so there's no bread. Milk stuff, sure, I guess, but I'm not too keen on eating butter by itself. As for meat, you should know better than to eat meat raw," said Spencer.

"Not quite. You can eat fish raw. It's called sushi. It's really good," said Tala, absentmindedly.

"Sushi? When did you try that?"

"Hm? Oh… I don't know. It was years ago. But I remember it like it was yesterday," said Tala looking up at the ceiling and smiling. "I remember sneaking out of the abbey into a sushi bar. The sushi disgusted me at first when I found out what it was, but it turned out to be really good after Kai shoved it down my throat…" Tala's mind drifted back to the events of the night before.

As the others frowned, a pleasant aroma wafted towards them.

"Mmm… what's that?" mumbled Ian as he closed his eyes dreamily. He rose up into the air and floated towards the source of the smell.

"It… it smells like pasta… mmm… tomato sauce…" murmured Ian. The others' mouths couldn't help but water, and they followed Ian on foot.

Ian drifted around a corner and the next thing the others heard was their short friend crying out. The others rushed to their friend.

Ian sat on the ground, whimpering and nursing his red nose with tears collecting in the corners of his eyes.

"Ian! What happened? Are you alright?"

"Hmph. Serves him right," came a voice. The others looked up into crimson eyes.

"Kai! What did you do to Ian?" snapped Spencer.

"I didn't do anything. It wasn't my fault your buddy floated into the side of a hot metal pot and hit the counter with his head on his way down to earth."

The others looked at their whimpering friend. "Ian? Is this true?" asked Tala. Ian blushed deeply and looked at the ground before nodding his head slightly. Spencer, Bryan and Tala couldn't help but smirk. That was until something hard hit the floor. The boys glanced over at a pack of ice and looked up at Kai.

"For his head," Kai said simply. Ian took the ice pack slowly and placed it on the swelling bump on his forehead. The boys stayed in silence for a moment. Kai glanced at them. "Hungry?" The others didn't reply. Kai was the last person they wanted to ask for help.

"Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?" asked Bryan suspiciously.

Kai answered, "I am responsible for you whether you like it or not. It's not like I volunteered for this job, anyways."

"Or is it because of what Tala said, last night, and this is your lame attempt at making friends with us? Well, you know what? You've betrayed us too many times. Being friends with you would be pointless. You're just going to desert us again. You always do."

Kai prepared his pasta, calmly, listening to Bryan. "Whatever you think," replied Kai quietly. Kai motioned to the pots, and said, "knock yourselves out," before leaving the kitchen.

"Really?" exclaimed Ian. Ian dropped the ice pack and dived for the pot.

"Ian! Watch out! It's still hot!" yelled Tala. Ian realized this and waved his arms backwards, wildly, in attempt to stop himself, but to no avail. Ian fell smack into the side of a large pot. His skin became beet red and his eyes wide as he slowly peeled off the pot like a piece of paper onto the floor. The others couldn't help chuckle before placing their friend to a sink full of cool water. Steam rushed forth from the sink, and Ian could be heard sighing.

"This feels nice…" The others grinned.

That lunch, they ate their lunch surrounding the sink. Bryan, Spencer and Tala sat on stools, and Ian sat in the sink, still bright red from the heat. They sat, eating and laughing at memories of the stupidity of Boris and Ian.

When Ian climbed out of the sink to make room for the dishes, Tala thought back to their meal. Kai had prepared it. He had prepared it for them. He knew they wouldn't have too much success with a proper lunch, and prepared lunch for them.

'Maybe Kai hasn't really changed too much from when we were kids. He must still care for us to some point to have made lunch for us. He could have had us live on vegetables for the rest of our lives. It's not like he's depending on us for anything. He may show it differently, but he cares—he must.'

Tala watched as the small scraps of food spin into the darkness.

I swear. The next chapter is longer. And it will be up really soon. Really really soon. -hinthint-. Review please :D.